During China’s 40 years of reform and development (1978–2018), there was the reconstruction of grassroots social groups. This resulted in both a top-down and bottom-up push. Collective action was an important part of the latter. Many Western academics have looked at collective action in China, and they have placed a lot of expectation on the idea that China will grow to become a civil society. They believe, for example, that the Chinese people will have more civil and citizenship rights (Goldman 2005). However, their expectations are often far from reality. Collective action in China often involves petitions—rather than confrontations—over state governance. Western academics are often enthusiastic about pursuing a “right consciousness”; however, this perspective cannot really be applied to Chinese society (Perry 2008). There are also debates about whether the concepts of a “social movement” or “contentious politics,” which are commonly used in Western sociology, are applicable to Chinese society. There has been rich literature on social movements in the West; however, this cannot help us fully understand Chinese society. China’s experience of social transformation over the last four decades, especially collective action, has also been considerably different from anything that the West has experienced. However, these differences have allowed Chinese academics to absorb Western theories and expand on them with their own unique perspectives. They are able to offer their unique insight on three key things: issues, problems, and questions (Feng 2016).